What is a Conservation Area?

A Conservation Area is a particular area of special architectural or historical interest, containing features which the local authority has decided should be preserved or enhanced

Enfield has 22 Conservation Areas and the Council has policies in place to preserve and enhance the character of these areas.  These policies are enforced through the planning process.

For each of the conservation areas there is a document referred to as a Character Appraisal, which sets out what makes the area special and lists factors which potentially or actually detract from that character. The Character Appraisal for the Lakes Estate can be downloaded from the Council’s website (see links below).

For householders, the main consequence of living in a conservation area is that planning permission is required for almost all changes to properties.  By issuing what is known as an Article 4(2) Direction, the Council has withdrawn the usual rights of householders to carry out small alterations, referred to as “permitted developments”,  and these now require planning permission

The Article 4(2) Direction for the Lakes Estate lists all the properties from which the right to carry out Permitted Developments has been withdrawn.  All of the listed properties are houses, as opposed to purpose-built and converted flats, shops and some other categories of property.  It is important to appreciate that rights to carry out Permitted Developments have never applied to flats, shops etc, only to houses, which explains why such properties are not listed in the Direction. All properties in the Conservation Area are therefore now subject to the same Planning rules.

For more detail of what Conservation Area status means for the Lakes Estate, see What does it mean for me in practice?

Next: What's so special about the Lakes Estate?